MILES DAVIS — Bitches Brew (review)

Album · 1970 · Fusion

4/5 · 2011-10-28
dreadpirateroberts

'Bitches Brew' is one of those albums that attracts all kinds of adjectives, mostly ones like 'revolutionary' and 'ground-breaking' but it also brings to mind words like 'dense' and 'meandering.'

In terms of its impact on genres, critics and more importantly, players - it is mammoth. But in some ways it's also a very logical step forward from 'In a Silent Way.' Here that sound is built upon and complicated, in a release that ruffled more than a few feathers in the jazz world at the time of its release.

From the composing credits and the 'wing-it' approach he favoured on 'Bitches Brew,' it's clear this is still very much a Davis album. However, not for the first or last time, Teo Macero plays a part, that of 'assembler.' Making a range of subtle edits throughout the long improvisations and jams that make up much of the material, his role shouldn't be overlooked, and rarely is nowadays.

I first came across 'Bitches Brew' in conversation with a friend over a game of pool, we were barely eighteen and Led Zeppelin my favourite band - jazz was an unknown world. My friend was obsessed with finding it when we went to a store, and when he did, the cover art caught my eye but I didn't get to hear it myself until a few years later when I'd already been given 'Kind of Blue,' 'The Birth of the Cool' and 'Round About Midnight.' It was hard for my rock-brain to get it at first, though I recall loving 'Round Midnight' right away. And I eventually got there. Months later and I remembered 'Bitches Brew' and one summer night of considerable stuffiness, when I'd finally purchased it, I put the headphones on and played the opening to 'Bitches Brew' and it stunned me.

It was alive in a brooding way, as if the music itself were totally uncomfortable and had to move. It heaved itself, shambling and sharp, across my mind and made me look around in the dark while I typed away at my work. (It's still one of the most eerie albums I've ever heard.) Miles was an echoing ghost and his high notes were relentless, while the jangling guitar of McLaughlin was sliding in and out of my consciousness, and the twin drum kits pummeled away and odd sounds seemed to creep out of every available space. Perhaps what made it so revolutionary on a personal level was it helped force me to take a step outside of Miles and look for other artists, as back then I used to be much slower to look outside my comfort range - and much poorer t afford to do so!

The key shortcoming of the album seems clear. With such a large cast, it's messy at times, and some of the pieces drag, especially if you've never heard the music before. With so many instruments needing to have a voice, it is dense. Part of it's joy is that density, for without it, 'Bitches Brew' may not be anywhere near as lasting. You have to dig in to repeated listens to get the most from it and the lumbering feel to this giant isn't cut by as many tempo changes as perhaps it could be. A lot of time is spent simply exploring, testing. It almost sounds live, and again, this isn't always a bad thing. On 'Miles Runs the Voodoo Down' for instance, it works wonderfully, whereas the title track covers a fair amount of similar ground in its wandering.

For anyone interested in the youth of Jazz Rock Fusion, and the point where it exploded into the public consciousness, then 'Bitches Brew' is a must. Miles Davis fans who may have steered clear of this album for whatever reason, will find a confident Miles in regards to vision, if not composition - if indeed such a word can be used to describe the thickets of music within. Four stars.